The WorldCard Mobile App – A Review

The WorldCard mobile app

If you are a business professional and find yourself exchanging business cards all the time at meetings or events, I urge you to try out the WorldCard mobile app for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.  Instead of carrying around stacks of business cards, the WorldCard mobile app allows you to use the iPhone built-in camera features to capture the data on the business cards using OCR and store them in its digital card holder or merge with your an existing contact on your phone.  It also allows the user  to share the business contact details through Apple’s iCloud or Dropbox.

How does the WorldCard scanner work?

Now let’s have a quick look at how the app works.  I have a business card as shown here.

Business Card

I run the WorldCard mobile app, click on the camera icon, take a photo of the business card.  Notice that you can use the camera flash in low-lit environment (flash on/off located at the top left-hand corner) or use the image enhancer located at the bottom right-hand corner (this option only appears after you have taken the photo of the business card).  The WorldCard mobile app also caters for camera shake and hand icon is the image stabiliser.

Taking photo of a business card using WorldCard mobile app

After taking the photo, you click on the recognize button where the app will scan the photo and using OCR pick up the business card data and add them to the contact fields.

The recognize button is located on the top right-hand corner

Business card data captured using WorldCard mobile app

In the case if a data field is incorrect or missed out, you can go back to the photo and use the selection box to define the area for a particular data and add to the data field.

Select and edit data - WorldCard mobile app

Experimenting with the WorldCard Mobile App.

I decided to use the WorldCard Mobile App to scan other printed materials besides business cards.  Here’s an example of a take-away menu with the address, website and map of the restaurant.  The WorldCard mobile app could not recognize the information on the take-away menu.

Experimenting with other printed media besides the business card

Recognize failed

I then turned over the take-away menu and took another photo.  This time it could recognize some of the information.  I tried with a different example.  The WorldCard app recognized the information.

Experimenting with a different example

The experiment worked!

The app works very well in recognizing business cards but may not be accurate with other form of paper media, i.e. the example I used.  I did not get the chance to try out with a business card in a different language but the app claims it can recognize characters in multiple languagues namely English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

How is the WorldCard mobile app beneficial to business professionals?

1.    It is quick and easy to use.
2.    It a portable app with cloud capabilities.  Ability to import contacts from iCloud and Dropbox or export to the cloud (iCloud or Dropbox).
3.    Ability to edit information, merge with iPhone contact and support for multiple languages
4.    Affordably priced at £4.99 for a business app on the iPhone.
5.    Able to use the app on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.
6.    The app is also available in the Android market.
7.    Comprehensive help and user guide integrated within the app.
8.    Allows grouping in the digital card holder to better organize contacts.
9.    Besides business card recognition, the app is also able to copy email signatures and save the details in the card holder.
10.  It has the ability to share saved business card contacts via text message or email.
12.  It allow searching the business card contacts on social networking services such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.
13.  It also allows single or multiple card scan.
14.  It supports scan for front and back of a business card.

Some of the WorldCard Mobile App Wish-List I would like to have.

This app is comprehensive as-is but I have a few of wish-list to add after trying out this product.

1.   Cloud-sync of data collected using WorldCard app with a CRM application, i.e. Salesforce, Microsoft CRM or other contacts/membership database system.
2.   OCR recognition for other languages i.e. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.
3.   WorldCard app for BlackBerry.
4.   Easily share data between two mobile devices using Bluetooth.

Download WorldCard Mobile App

Here is the link to download a copy of WorldCard mobile app from iTunes:
Download WorldCard Mobild App from iTunes